COST OF IMMIGRATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19124, 16 September 1925, Page 13

COST OF IMMIGRATION.

PROVISION FOR £200,001). ASSISTING ORGANISATIONS. NUMBER OF GRANTS PROPOSED. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON. Tuesday. State expenditure on immigration last financial year totalled £136,353 out of a vote of £IBO,OOO. The proposed grant this year from the Public Works Fund is £200,000^ The principal items of actual and 'estimated expenditure by the Department of Immigration are as follow: Vote. Expended. 1924-25. 1923-24. Passage money . . . . £350.000 £283,249 Administrative expenses 11,450 10,547 Salaries, London office . 7,000 6,500 Refunds of passage money . . . . 9,800 6,060 Accommodation grants . 2,500 1,928 397,745 313,920 Credits .. .. 197,745 177,567 Net totals .. .. £200,000 £136.,353 For services rendered in connection with immigration, the following grants are made:—Public School Boys' Employment: Bureau, Great Britain, £100; Taranaki Chamber of Commerce Public School Boys' Scheme, £75; British Association, £250; Salvation Army, £500; Young Women's Christian Association, £SOO. SUBSIDISING ROADS. DEPARTMENT'S POLICY. IMPORTANCE OF MAINTENANCE. [BY TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON. Tuesday. The previous year's record expenditure on road construction was exceeded in 1924-25. The Minister remarks that of the 56,680 miles of legalised roads and tracks in the Dominion, 23,097 miles have been fully metalled- to dray-road width, and 16,114 miles formed to drayroad width. It is estimated that an expenditure approximating £50,000,000 will yet bo required to complete all roads as metalled dray-roads. Considerable attention has been paid during the year to the question of roadsurfacing. The realisation of the capabilities of improved surface to withstand the ever-increasing motor traffic, and thus considerably reduce the cost of upkeep, has led the department to adopt the principle of subsidising the cost of bitumen or tar-sealing or other improved surface. At the same time, in view of the fact that such improved surfacing is particularly in the interests of local bodies, who are primarily responsible for maintenance, it is considered that the scale of subsidy on such work should be lower than that for ordinary macadam road-surfacing. • . The Minister strongly emphasises 4he importance of maintenance. The initial cost of construction is not the only factor to be considered in connection with a metalling scheme, but the ability of uhe district to maintain the road once' it is metalled is by no means the least important consideration. The principle has therefore been adopted of investigating a local body's capabilities in this direction before any comprehensive metalling scheme receives the approval of the department, and in future no authorisation of approved grants or subsidies will be made for metalling purposes until the local body satisfies the department by a resolution of the council that it has arranged to provide and set aside annually sufficient funds to efficiently and effectively maintain the work. It is pleasing to note that local bodies are themselves, to. a. greater extent than has been the case in the past, moving in the right direction so far as maintenance of roads is concerned. " Reviewing the operation of the M'ain Highways scheme, the Minister states that declared main highways total 6008 miles, of which .1362 miles have been declared Government roads. Of the latter 703 miles are controlled and maintained by the Government, local authorities finding part of the cost of the balance. The Minister commends tho efforts of the Highways BoarJ to convince local bodies that money judiciously spent on maintenance will enable them to provide roads quite adequate for the business traversing it, without the expenditure of borrowed money on reconstruction. Some local authorities, feeling the difficulty of obtaining borrowed money at the allowable rate of interest, have negotiated a bold policy of doubling, or at any rate greatly increasing, their rates, to enable them to tak§ up the board's pound for pound assistance toward new works. This is a sound policy and will result in much improvement of the highways without passing on to posterity a load of debt which might last far longer than the road to build which it was incurred.